This disclosure relates to a user interface in a networked audio system.
Audio systems can be arranged to stream digital audio data to one or more of multiple audio playback devices that are connected to a network such as a local area network (LAN). Each audio playback device is able to play the audio data through one or more loudspeakers. The system can use computing devices such as PCs, Macs, smartphones and tablets that are loaded with appropriate software, as system control devices that allow the user to log in to an account and control which music is played and which audio playback devices are used to play the music. These control devices may not all use the same operating system (OS).
In order to provide a common user experience across any system control device, it is desirable for all of the control devices to have the same graphical user interface (UI). In order to keep all of the user interfaces (UIs) the same, each time the UI for one OS is modified the UI for all other supported OS have to be modified in the same manner. This takes development time and money. Also, since most updates require user intervention (e.g., acceptance of an update offered by the system), maintaining common UIs across multiple control devices may mean that the user has to take action on each control device.